1.09.2013

Updating Vintage Deer Antlers~

Today I'm sharing another treasure I received from my parents - a set of vintage deer antlers!

I was so excited to get these from them, but I wasn't jazzed with the way they were mounted. The highly varnished wood plaque and the red velvet just wasn't cutting it for me. So I decided to give the whole thing a bit of a facelift.
I started by sanding and painting over the plaque with a coat of creamy white paint.

More after the jump...

Since I couldn't remove the antlers from the plaque, I simply used a small paint brush and was very careful as I painted so that I wouldn't accidentally paint the antlers. Luckily, I have a pretty steady hand. :-)

The red velvet was not only unattractive, but it was poorly attached. There were ripples in the fabric and visible hot glue around the edges. So I decided to recover it with a pretty pale blue herringbone fabric remnant that I picked up at a design house sale last year for a screaming deal. (I highly suggest buying fabric that you love when you see it because you might not be able to find it again and you'll almost always find a use for it later - or you can always resell it. Just my two cents.)

I also found that I couldn't remove the red velvet, so I simply hot glued the herringbone fabric over the top. But then there was the little issue of the visible hot glue.
So I added some jute twine that I had hanging around to cover the edges. It lent a bit of rustic charm to the rather formal herringbone and was the perfect touch.

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comments:

LOVE these antlers! You did an awesome job refurbing them! I have a set that I mounted myself (not a pro, by any means), but now I want to use the fabric over the skull part of the antlers or whatever it is!! Thanks for sharing!!!

I am in love with antlers. Love love love. I grew up with them in my house. Have you heard of the yarn bombed antlers? I died when I saw them - I am obsessed. And I'm sad that I don't live at home anymore - my dad probably has a bajillion antlers just lying aroudn the house! I neeeeed one to do a project like that!